The mother of a seven-year-old girl who was bitten on the knee by a bull terrier believes the “dog is racist”. Pam Nkosi of Honeydew, north of Johannesburg, says her daughter was playing with other children when the dog ran into their yard and bit her daughter.

“I feel that the dog is racist. The way it behaved. It shows that it was not familiar with other races.” Nkosi said the dog’s owner, Sean Norman, had not come to see the child nor contributed to her medical bills. “I contacted emergency services who attended to the child before taking her to a doctor. A nurse living in our complex suggested that we get the dog’s vaccination record,” she said.

“Since the owner was impossible, we had to get the police to intervene. We discovered that the dog’s owner had defaulted on vaccinations and this puts my child at risk.” Nkosi also claimed that Norman had denied that his dog had bitten her daughter.

“He (Norman) said the child was bitten by another dog. He later said the child fell while walking near a hedge, but an emergency services report and doctor’s letter confirmed the incident,” Nkosi said. Norman said he had not seen the child and was not prepared to comment further on the issue. A case has been opened at the Honeydew police station. SPCA inspector Tarryn Smith did not want to comment on whether the dog was “racist” or not but said all domestic animals behave differently because of their upbringing.